Knitting method and machine



Oct. 20, 1959 Filed Oct. 2, 1957 G. 1. FOLSOM KNITTING METHOD AND MACHINE 5 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTOR.

GEORGE I. FOLSOM ATTORNEY 1959 G. SOM 2,909,048

FIG. 3.

INVENTOR. GEORGE I. FOLSOM ATTORN EYS Oct. 20, 1959 e. 1. FOLSOM 2,909,048

KNITTING METHOD AND MACHINE Filed Oct. 2, 1957 5 Sheets-Sheet 3 FIG. 5.

INVENTOR. GEORGE I. FOLSOM ATTORNEYS Oct. 20, 1959 G. l. FOLSOM 2,909,048

KNITTING METHOD AND MACHINE Filed Oct. 2, 1957 5 Sheets-Sheet 4 s2 5 *7' I 48 L 46 Q 26 s \K X 23 FIG. 7.

INVENTOR. GEORGE 1.. FOLSOM BY ATTORNE S United States Patent KNITTING METHOD AND MACHINE George I. Folsom, Laconia, N.H., assignor to Scott & Williams, Incorporated, Laconia, N.H., a corp'oration of Massachusetts Application October 2, 1957, Serial No. 687,818

7 Claims. (Cl. 66-'13) This invention relates to a knitting method and machine and has particular reference to the formation of rib tops or ribbed bands on half-hose or other circular machines having cylinder and dial needles.

- The patent to R. W. Scott, No. 1,641,101, dated August 30, 1927, described in detail the mechanism and procedure which has been involved, starting on bare needles, in the formation of rib tops of half-hose and the transfer of loops from dial needles to cylinder needles which were inactive during the formation of the rib tops.

Reference may be made to the patents to R; H. Lawson, No. 2,719,415, dated October 4, 1955, and No. 2,783,629, dated March 5, 1957, relating to methods and mechanisms for the formation of rib tops. Reference may also be made to my Patent No. 2,829,508, dated April 8, 1958. The present invention relates to the same general subject matter as the last mentioned patent and involves further improvements in the matter of starting on bare needles and knitting rib tops not only of 1 x 1 rib type but of other types of which 2 X 2 rib tops may be considered examples.

The invention particularly concerns the use of special sinkers and sinker movements for the proper tensionin-g of rib fabric as it is produced, the sinkers not being of the saw-tooth type such as have heretofore been much used in the formation of rib tops of half-hose, In accordance with the invention sinkers having high level nebs engage loops to effect proper takeup consistent with the formation of satisfactory rib tops and with the further advantage of production of uniform stitches and the avoidance of tucking.

The objects of the invention relating to the attainment of the foregoing results and other objects relating to details of construction and operation will become apparent from the following description, read in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which:

'Figure 1 is a fragmentary elevation showing dial driving connections including shogging means of the type illustrated in said Lawson patent, 2,719,415;

'Figure 2 is a fragmentary elevation looking at the right-hand side of Figure 1 and showing adjustable means for limiting shogging movements;

Figure 3 is an inside development of the cams for acting on the butts of cylinder needles;

' Figure 4 is a horizontal section showing the cams for acting upon the hook and point members constituting the two-part dial needles;

Figure 5 is a plan view showing, in particular, various sinker-controlling cams and the operating devices therefor; I

Figures 6 and 7 are enlarged axial sections showing the relationships of cylinder and dial needles and sinkers during rib knitting;

Figure 8 is a diagram indicating the relationships between dial and cylinder needles and sinkers during 1 x 1 rib knitting; and

'Figure 9 is a diagram similar to Figure 8 but showing the relationships occurring during 2 x 2 rib knitting.

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The half-hose which is produced in accordance with the invention is essentially as described in said Scott patent, and, accordingly, there are illustrated only those changes and parts which are particularly concerned with the attainment of the objects of the present invention. As will more 'fully appear hereafter, transfer operations are carried out precisely as described in said Scott patent and, hence, have not been illustrated.

The half-hose machine comprises the slotted needle cylinder 2 in which are mounted latch needles indicated at 4. As is usual, these needles are provided with butts arranged to be acted upon by suitable cams, there being made provision for differentiating the needles to render selectively active and inactive groups thereof in the knitting of rib fabric, the differentiation being obtained through the use of jacks which are not illustrated herein but are as shown in said Scott patent.

In accordance with the disclosure of said Scott patent, saw-tooth sinkers alternate with plain sinkers between pairs of adjacent cylinder needles. In accordance with the present invention saw-tooth sinkers are not used, but instead between each pair of cylinder needles there is located a sinker of the type illustrated at 6, the sinkers being guided for radial movements by reception in slots engages the spring band 20 which serves to urge the sinkers yieldingly inwardly.

Each sinker is provided with a ledge 24 over which stitches are drawn by the needle hooks during plain knitting, and with a high neb 26 which has a horizontal upper edge 28 meeting at a sharp point a sloping inner cam edge 30 which is arranged to engage fabric loops ashereafter described. Below the edge 30 there is a socket 32. Each sinker is also provided with a slot 34 which embraces the flange 36 of the cylinder top 14 to serve to guide the inner portion of each sinker for horizontal movements.

A radially slotted dial is provided at 42 and is automatically vertically movable as described in the Scott patent. With radial slots in the dial there are mounted for relative sliding movements the hook members 46 and the castoff or point members 50 constituting the dial needles. The hook members 46 are provided with the usual hooks 48 while the point members 50 are provided with the usual points 51. Butts 52 and 54 on the respective members are arranged to be acted upon by dial cams such -as indicated in Figure 4, including the member 56 provided with the cam surface 58 and cams 60, 62, 63 and 64.

The butts of the cylinder needles are arranged to be acted upon by the switch cam 66, the reverse stitch cam 68, the center cam 70, the forward stitch cam 72, the rise cam 74 and the lowering cam 76. In Figure 3 the needle butts are shown differentiated as they would be in 1 x l rib knitting, the needle butts shown being arranged in two groups 4' and 4", the former being active during rib knitting and the latter being inactive. Those which are active during rib knitting pass the cams which have been described along the butt path A, the butts passing over the reverse stitch cam 68 and being depressed by cams 70 and 72 to take yarn at the feed of the machine, then being raised by cam 74 and lowered by cam 76. The butts 4" of needles which are inactive during rib knitting enter the butt path B and are depressed below the leading point of the reverse stitch cam 68 by switch cam 66 and lowered by cam surface 69, thereafter moving horizontally to join the butts 4' to be raised by cam 74 and then lowered by cam 76. I

drawtheir stitches during n'b knitting somewhat later" than the. cylinder needles, which action aids in'widening the bights between the rib and'plain loops. Secondly, it is preferable to effect cast-off by meansof an outside point 51 rather than by an inside hook as described alternatively in said Scott patent,.the result being less stretching of the dial stitches with a resulting tendency to production of wider bights between the rib. and plain" loops.

Reference may now be particularly made to Figures land 2 which show shogging means of the type illustrated and described in Lawson Patent 2,719,415. The dial 42 is connected to a shaft 78 which is driven through a pair of bevel gears at 80 from a shaft 81 whichis in turn driven by a pair of bevel gears 82 from a vertical shaft'84. In said Scott patent, the shaft corresponding to 84 was driven in unison with the needle cylinder by direct gear drive. In the present case, however, there is secured to the lower end of shaft 84 a gear 86 meshing with a pinion 88 secured to a second pinion 90 through a stub shaft 91, the pinion 90 meshing with a gear 92 secured to a shaft 94 coaxial with the shaft 84 and driven through bevel gears 96 from the shaft 97 which drives the needle cylinder. A yoke 98 mounted coaxially with the shafts 84 and 94 serves to mount the stub shaft 91 to provide a planetary gear arrangement, the yoke being connected through a linkage including the link 100 so as to be angularly shiftable by cams on the main cam drum of the machine between positions limited by the adjustable stop screws 102 and 104. The linkage, including the link 100, has sufficient spring so that at the extremes of its movement the yoke 98 may be definitely arrested by the screws 102 and 104 in the two extreme positions.

Reference may now be made particularly to Figure which shows the cams for control of sinker movements. The regular forward and reverse knock-over cams are illustrated at 186 and 108, respectively. The former of these is pivoted at 110 and the latter at 112. A rib knock-over cam 114 having its active rise at 116 is pivoted also at 119 independently of cam 106. The reverse knock-over cam 108 is controlled by a link 118 from the main cam drum of the machine in conventional fashion while the forward knock-over cam 106 is similarly controlled by a link 120. The inner position of cam 114 is adjusted by means of the eccentric 122 which abuts a portion of the sinker cap which carries all of the parts of the sinker control system. The cam 114 is urged inwardly by the action of a spring, not shown, as described in said Scott patent.

A sinker withdrawing cam 124 arranged to act on the sinker butts 16 is fixed in position.

A bell crank 126 pivoted to the sinker cap at 128 is arranged to be controlled from the main cam drum through a push rod 130 and is provided with apin 132 engaging a slot in one end of a lever 134 pivoted to the sinker cap at 13:6. The other end of this lever 1341s slotted to embrace a pin 138 extending upwardly through a slot in the sinker cap and carried by a cam 140 which is pivoted to the sinker cap at 142.

Beyond the position of the cam 140 in the direction of needle rotation is a lever 152 pivoted to the sinker cap at 154 and urged by a spring 156 to an inner position limited by an adjustable eccentric stop 1S8 carried by the sinker cap. A cam edge 169 of the lever 152 is arranged to engage the edge 23 of each sinker to aid in moving it inwardly, the cam 166 serving to augment the action of the spring band 20.

It may be here noted that the sinker and. cylinder. needle cams are so related that the position .of the lower 4 1 most point of the forward stitch cam 72 just precedes the innermost point of the cam 106. The cams and 160- are, accordingly, active in that region in which the needles in the cylinder are at the level determined by their downward movement under cam 76. The cylinder needles shown in Figures 6 and 7 are shown in this position. The dial needles in these figures arch the position attained following the action of cams 58 and 63.

As a preliminary to description of the operation, reference may first be made to the normal position of dial needles relative to cylinder needles during rib knitting. Irrespective of the type of rib which is being formed, the number of dial needles set up in the dial is equal to the number of cylinder needles inactive during rib knitting. In 1 x l rib knitting, for example, the number of dial needles is one-half the total number of cylinder needles. During 1 x 1 rib knitting in accordance with the present invention the elements are related as illustrated in Figure 8. The sinkers are midway between adjacent cylinder needles, and during this rib knitting the dial needles indi-' cated at D are directly above those sinkers S which follow, considering the counterclockwise direction of rotation, the inactive cylinder needles indicated IC to which the dial needles will ultimately transfer loops. The active cylinder needles designated AC are thus relatively close to the dial needles which precede them in the direction of rotation. It will be understood that Figure 8 has been spread out horizontally to show more clearly the relationships of the elements. It may be noted that in accordance with the present invention, the dial is not provided with fins such as are conventionally used when saw-tooth sinkers are used.

The arrangement used during 2 x 2 rib knitting is illustrated in Figure 9 wherein the elements are designated in the same fashion as in Figure 8. Here the trailing dial needle of each pair is aligned with the sinker which follows the trailing inactive cylinder needle to which that dial needle will ultimately transfer loops. Likewise the leading dial needle of each pair is aligned with the sinker which follows the inactive cylinder needle to which the leading dial needle of the pair will ultimately transfer its loop.

The makeup procedure for the knitting of 1 x 1 rib fabric is the same as described in my patent referred to above. In the makeup operation the dial is shogged backwardly with respect to the cylinder to a position in which each dial needle is substantially aligned with that inactive cylinder needle which follows the inactive cylinder needle to which it will ultimately transfer a loop; i.e., the dial is shogged rearwardly with respect to the direction of needle cylinder rotation to the extent of two' cylinder needle spacings from the position which will be assumed during transfer.

In the formation of the first course, active cylinder needles and dial needles take yarn. In the formation of the second course only cylinder needles take the yarn and knit, the dial needles remaining inactive and holding the loops taken during the first course. During this course the dial is advanced to its normal position for rib knitting illustrated in Figure 8, the dial needles carrying the loops which were drawn during the first course. Thereafter, during subsequent courses, both the dial and active cylinder needles take yarn, knitting in conventional fashion except for the special sinker actions which will be later described.

The result of the foregoing is the formation of a racked or shogged welt involving an ultimate twisted arrangement of the yarn. The welt thus provided is of good. appearance, not involving the small eyelets which result from a non-shog welt formation. Consistent with the use of other advantages of the invention, however, other welts may be formed.

Before proceeding with a description of rib knittingin detail, reference may be made to the operations involved in the. formation of a welt when a 2 x 2 rib is desired.

These are the same as described in my prior patent. In this case, as illustrated in Figure 9, the normal positions of the needles during rib knitting are such that in the cylinder two active needles alternate with two inactive needles, and pairs of dial needles are between pairs of active cylinder needles though not symmetrically located, as described above. For the formation of the welt the dial needles are again retarded from their normal rib knitting positions to an extent that each trailing dial needle of a pair will lie between the active cylinder needles which during rib knitting follow it. The result is that in the sequence of approach to the yarn feed, dial needles alternate with active cylinder needles.

In the formation of the first course, yarn is fed to the active cylinder needles and the dial needles. In the formation of the second course, only the active cylinder needles take and knit the yarn, while during the formation of this course the dial is advanced relatively to the cylinder to bring the dial needles, which carry their loops taken on the first course, into the rib knitting positions illustrated in Figure 9. The knitting then continues with both dial needles and active cylinder needles taking and knitting the yarn.

In the case of makeups for both 1 x 1 and 2 x 2 rib knitting, satisfactory results may be obtained if the dial is advanced rather than retarded with respect to the cylinder and with respect to its normal position for rib knitting, the advance being such that during makeup the dial needles alternate with active cylinder needles.

During the formation of the welt, since only two courses are involved prior to the beginning of rib knitting, it is immaterial whether the sinkers are or are not operated in the fashion involved in rib knitting as will now be described, since the sinker nebs do not attempt to lower the dial loops until actual rib knitting begins.

It will be evident that other types of welt formation may be used consistently with the present invention and in accordance with known practices. For example, there may be 1 x 1 makeup without shog; or tucked makeup may be used.

The function of the sinkers in accordance with the invention during rib knitting is essentially the same irrespective of the type of rib which is being produced and accordingly the description may be made common to any desired type of rib knitting. What is involved is action of sinkers on loops which have been formed by the dial needles, the action being specifically on dial loops which have been formed two courses in advance of those which are carried on the dial needle hooks.

Aside from the special sinker actions, the operations involved in rib formation are conventional, the dial and cylinder needles moving in the usual fashion, the cams 106 and 108 being withdrawn so that the cam 116 is active on the sinkers following the drawing of stitches in the usual fashion. The special sinker actions start with the withdrawal of the sinkers by the action of cam 140 which is active during rib knitting. Figure 6 shows a sinker as it is moving inwardly under the influence of the spring band 20 after having passed the end of cam 140. The sloping edge 30 of the sinker neb is just about to engage the upper part of the dial loop drawn in the second course preceding that which is held in the dial hooks. At this time the cylinder needles will have been lowered by cam 76. It will be noted that a dial loop of the intermediate course is being cast off the dial needle.

Figure 7 shows the sinker in a position just subsequent to that illustrated in Figure 6. The sloping edge of the sinker neb has now engaged the sinker loop formed in the second preceding course and has applied suificient tension thereto to lower the loop of the first preceding course below the dial needle hook where it cannot be reengaged to produce tucking.

The inward movement of the sinkers to effect the foregoing are gradual since the spring band must extend from the last sinker engaged by cam 140 tangentially to the 6 position corresponding to the innermost positions of the sinkers.

In this discussion of rib knitting the inward movements of the sinkers are described as to their functions in rib knitting. However, the sinkers have the further func-- tion of maintaining tension on rib stitches during transfer. Since the strain at this time is substantially greater due to the dial stitch being taken from the hook 48 by point 51 and carried out to enlarge the stitch sufiiciently to be entered by a previously inactive cylinder needle, it is desirable to augment the action of the spring band, and this is accomplished by the action of cam which, urged by spring 156, acts on edges 23 of the sinkers to insure their complete inward movement, if that has not been attained by the action of the spring band, and to maintain them against outward movement against the tension of the spring band. The transfer operation itself is conventional and may take place as described in said Scott patent. The dial needles are, of course, shogged in a forward direction to provide alignment with the previously inactive cylinder needles. It may be noted that since shogging is possible it is desirable during the transfer to advance the dial slightly beyond alignment though this is only to insure that the inactive cylinder needles will with certainty pass to the rear of the dial needles during the transfer operation. The dial needles are provided with bevels designed to guide the inactive cylinder needles properly during the transfer operation, but while such bevels will normally properly act even when the dial and inactive cylinder needles are directly aligned, the action is desirably insured by the slight advance mentioned.

It will be obvious that various details may be varied from what has been described without departing from the invention and it is accordingly not to be construed as limited except as required by the following claims.

What is claimed is:

1. In a circular knitting machine, a cylinder, a dial, cylinder and dial needles respectively carried thereby, cams for imparting stitch drawing movements to said cylinder and dial needles, sinkers having nebs for effecting inward movements of fabric during rib knitting by said cylinder and dial needles, said sinker nebs having sharp points arranged for movements close to but below said dial and having cam edges extending from said points downwardly in a direction sloping outwardly from the axis of the cylinder, and means for imparting radially inward movements to the sinkers during rib knitting at a point following the location of drawing of stitches to cause them to engage loops drawn by dial needles.

2. In a circular knitting machine, a cylinder, a dial, cylinder and dial needles respectively carried thereby, cams for imparting stitch drawing movements to said cylinder and dial needles, sinkers having nebs for effecting inward movements of fabric during rib knitting by said cylinder and dial needles, said sinker nebs having sharp points arranged for movements close to but below said dial and having cam edges extending from said points downwardly in a direction sloping outwardly from the axis of the cylinder, and means for imparting radially inward movements to the sinkers during rib knitting at a point following the location of drawing of stitches, the last mentioned sinker movements causing their nebs to engage and move inwardly loops drawn by dial needles in the second course preceding that involving loops held by the dial needles.

3. A knitting machine according to claim 1 in which the sinkers are urged inwardly by a spring band and in which said movements are effected by the action of the spring band.

4. A knitting machine according to claim 2 in which the sinkers are urged inwardly by a spring band and in which said movements are elfected by the action of the spring band.

5. The method of effecting rib knitting in a circular knitting machine having a cylinder, a dial, cylinder and dial needles respectively carried thereby, cams for imparting stitch drawing movementsto said cylinder and dial needles and sinkers having nebs having sharp points arranged for movements close to but below said dial and having cam edges extending from said points downwardly in a direction sloping outwardly from the axis of the cylinder, which comprises imparting to the sinkers during rib knitting radially inward movements at a point following the location of drawing of stitches to cause them to engage loops drawn by dial needles.

6. The method according to claim 5 in which said sinker movements cause their nebs to engage and move inwardly loops drawn by dial needles in a course pre-' ceding that involving loops held by the dial needles.

needles.

References Cited in the file ofthis patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Folsom Apr. 8; 1958. 

